Do people expect perfection from their religious leaders?

The answer is yes and I am ashamed to admit that I did for a time. Than again, I was fifteen. To expect perfection from any man but Jesus Christ is a fools game. 

When it comes out that Joseph Smith Jr drank tea, coffee or beer there are two options I've usually seen. The first is disbelief-which is fine, you don't have to believe things that are true, well documented and sourced. But if you don't believe things that people of all stripes generally do-then you will correctly be marginalized. IE-You are free to think that Winston Churchill was the fist president of the United States and that George Washington played center for the 98' Bulls. Just don't expect people to listen to you. Anyway, if you have a problem with Smith Jr and some questionable habits he had-well so what? Do you expect perfection from him? He was a man just like the rest of the church leaders are. If you think his own behavior (sinful or not) caused his prophecies or religion not to be true than you need to seriously re-examine your own faith.

You will never agree 100% with anything. Your church, your religious leaders, your political heroes, music idols or even yourself. If you agree with someone all the time that means you've probably given up thinking for yourself and told them to think for you. I see it often when people blindly obey someone and it really is strange. I'm someone who likes to think he thinks for himself and is influenced by others but hopefully doesn't just vomit out what they think word for word. I have yet to meet someone whom I agree with all the time and I probably wouldn't like them if I did. 

Protesting and prosecutors

You have every right to protest and express your discontent with "the man" or "the system" or "society in general". What you don't have a right to do is protest without worrying about the consequences. We are all connected in some way-if you and your buddies protest and shut down a highway and thereby block an ambulance carrying a man with a heart attack to the hospital and he dies because of it-yes, you should be charged with manslaughter.

I'm not naive though. The legal system isn't perfect-and it's politically correct. Do I think a prosecutor has the integrity and backbone to punish protestors who do that? Of course not. I also don't think a prosecutor would decline to prosecute someone they knew/suspected was innocent. Growing up I was expected to view prosecutors as the good guys-always seeking virtue, truth, justice and the American way. That's rubbish of course. Like protestors all they care about is their own self interest.

No accountability will be leveled against protestors who stop us from going against our daily lives. If you are late to a job and get fired because of protestors blocking the highway-well, tough. Nothing you can do about it. The woman who was in labor and had to deliver her baby in the back seat of a car? Nothing you can do about that either.

I'm generally a skeptic but I try to force myself to be an optimistic person-lately it's been tough and I think it's been tough on all of us.

Getting along with people

I'd like to think that everyone likes or respects me, but I know it's not true. What I'm not going to tell you is "I don't care what others think of me." That's a garbage thing to say. You do care, even if it's subconscious and like I've mentioned before if you didn't, you would say it. It's a line used by passive aggressive people with the social skills of a peevish librarian (Fallout Vegas points for you if you get that one).

Usually when you have a clash with one person, it could be just personalities. You aren't going to like everyone you encounter, that's for sure. However when you get a persecution complex and think everyone is against you and you are always arguing with everyone-that's on you, not them. You learn pretty quickly in life that you need to get along with people to be successful. That doesn't mean liking everyone, it means getting along with them. You can be successful if you are prickly, argumentative, unpleasant and surly but it requires a great effort and it's very rare. 

It's hard for me to accept these things. In my teenage years and early 20's I was one of those people who said he "didn't care" what others think. I was brash, arrogant obnoxious and had a massive chip on my shoulder. I would argue over everything and go to war for the slightest thing. Sure, I'm still arrogant and I carry grudges forever but I'm mortified that I once said "I don't care what others think." Others correctly wrote me off-as they should have. If I didn't care about what they think, why should they care about what I think? 

However I was only in my 20's. I want you to write down things you thought in your teens and twenties that you still agree with today. If you haven't changed at all than congratulations-you've wasted years of your life. It's pretty sad when someone at 36 views the world and acts the same way as they did in at 21. 

Temples and St. Peters Basilica

I've mentioned before that I don't like going to temples-and I still don't. I've mentioned the reasons before and those haven't changed. Going more just reminds me why I don't like it. I haven't been in awhile and I don't see a trip coming up in the future. My life partner/significant other/domestic companion does like going to the temple so people say "How come you don't go for her!? You are horrible!" It's very simple. 1) I don't bar her from going and 2) I like things that she isn't interested in going to either. The key to a good relationship is independence, actually. Value your partner as an individual first and foremost over everything.

Anyway, LDS get the question "Your temples are so elegant and expensive! Shouldn't the money be better spent on the poor?" This isn't just an LDS question. The Catholics also get "St. Peter's Basilica  is gorgeous! Sell it an all the artwork and give it to the poor!"  First off, the artwork in St. Peter's Basilica belongs to humanity and is priceless. It's been there for centuries and is considered among the greatest artwork in the world. You can't really "sell it".

Second, both the LDS and Catholic churches do a huge, huge amount for the poor. Educating, feeding, clothing providing shelter. Much, much more than atheist charities do. It's not just LDS and Catholics, it's mainly Christian ones. That entire "love your neighbor" thing, you know?

Scripture Sunday Alma 42:29

Alma is telling his wayward son to be sorrowful for his sins, and of course you should be sorry. Alma says "only let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance."

Of course you shouldn't feel happy about sinful behavior, that should be obvious. Even if it feels good for a minute it won't feel good in the long run. You also do need to show remorse after you start the repentance process. Sorrow is important but you should not let soul shattering guilt destroy you. In fact, it's almost worse than the sin because that means you've given up hope. Virtually no sin is unforgivable and even though it might hurt at first, be sure to keep your eyes on the big picture.

In my view the sinner should be joyful that they stopped the behavior instead of depressed that they started it.

Dallas

If you are anything less than outraged by this, you need to re-evulate your life. You can be African-American, Asian, Hispanic, White, homosexual, heterosexual, liberal or conservative -but if you think killing police officers is "cool" or "fighting oppressors" or "rebelling against the man"-you are wrong and disgusting. 

I'm not going to use this post to talk about good or bad cops. Or a failure of leadership. Or police and minority relations in 2016. This war on police officers is not the answer to any of those issues. These cops are men and women with families who are innocent people-they haven't done a damn thing, even if some of their brethren have. Collective responsibility is garbage. I am not responsible for what every white guy does, nor is a black dude responsible for  what black guys do. The NRA didn't do anything wrong and neither did Black Lives Matter. Only individuals do evil and only individuals do good. 

Praying for the great city of Dallas right now. 

Album of the weekend

Ramones-It's Alive. 

For about fifty four minutes, you will be in heaven. Nothing will bother you. Pure bliss. The greatest punk band of all time is the Ramones and the greatest punk live album of all time is "It's Alive." 

If you are a baseball fan you will know that there is nothing more exciting than watching a no hitter live at the ball park.  In the 9th inning everything gets very quiet and 20,000 people do not say a word as they are fully entranced in the moment. These moments are rare in life, but I know that if you were there for any one of the four concerts in England at the time this album was recorded, you were feeling the same way. 

It's Alive is a five star masterpiece with no bad songs (it's the Ramones after all). It is a live album that puts you there every time you hear it. From the opening "We're the Ramones this one's called Rockaway Beach" to "We'd like to thank you all for coming, good night!" and every song in between you are in total ecstasy. 

This is my favorite album of all time, and one I will never, ever stop listening too.